Alabama still one of 10 poorest states

Staff and wire reports

Wednesday

Aug 29, 2007 at 12:01 AM

WASHINGTON | Alabama narrowly missed breaking out of the top 10 list of the poorest states in the country last year, according to new poverty statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau.But its climb to No. 10 instead of near the bottom came largely on the misfortunes of other states. Alabama’s poverty rate remains at roughly 16 percent, about where it has been for several years, and its median income is the fifth lowest in the nation.The Census Bureau released the new figures Tuesday as part of the new American Community Survey, which samples 3 million households a year in cities and counties with populations of 65,000 or more. Census officials say it provides the best data for comparing local areas and states.Alabama had the 10th highest poverty rate, putting it ahead of Mississippi, which ranked first, followed by the District of Columbia, Louisiana, New Mexico, Arkansas, West Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Texas.In older census surveys that used different methodologies, Alabama regularly placed near the bottom. It ranked fourth in 1995, for example, and third in 1980, behind only Arkansas and Mississippi.In Tuscaloosa County in 2004, the latest year for which information is available, the poverty rate was 17.2 percent and the median income was $36,598. The poverty rate was influenced by the number of college students.In real terms, the number of people in poverty decreased from 762,000 in 2004 to 650,000 in 2006.Although it’s not the lowest rate -- that occurred in the mid-1990s -- the poverty rate is still dropping. “The rate of poverty is going down over time," said Annette Watters, manager of the Alabama State Data Center at the University of Alabama’s Center for Business and Economic Research.Jim Carnes, a policy analyst with Alabama Arise, said the poverty decline is “significant" but that the data need to be further analyzed. “We don’t know what’s happening at the poverty level, and it is a measure that’s problematic," he said.The Census Bureau also released results from its Current Population Survey, which uses a different methodology than the American Community Survey and which census officials say provides the best national data, including the official national poverty level.The two surveys provided different information about Alabama’s median household income.The American Community Survey, which included 2006 median income for the city of Tuscaloosa at $27,358, showed an increase of about 2 percent, from $38,077 in 2005 to $38,783 last year -- the fifth-lowest in the nation. The Community Population Survey reported an opposite trend, showing a nearly 2 percent drop from a 2004-05 average of $38,733 to 2005-06 average of $38,160.Watters said if the median income did drop, it could be related to the survey methods or to the three hurricanes that hit or brushed Alabama since 2005.She tentatively linked results to hurricanes because median income in one report dropped in the four hurricane-ravaged states -- Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas ---while it increased in other Southeastern states and nationally.About 15 in 100 people in Alabama are below the federal poverty line.Whatever the median income, Watters said, more significant data is the decrease in the poverty rate in Alabama in two Census Bureau surveys.In one survey the poverty rate dropped 7.7 percent, from 16.8 percent in 2004-05 to 15.5 percent in 2005-06.Watters said that even though poverty levels have remained stagnant in recent years, the broader trend shows an improvement from the 1980s and 1990s, when the state’s poverty rate hovered around 20 percent.“The percentage of people in poverty is definitely going down," she said. “I’m taking the long view ... that general economic conditions in the state have improved."She said much of that improvement can be attributed to decisions by automakers and other manufacturers to open plants in the state.The poverty level is the official measure used to decide eligibility for federal health, housing, nutrition and child care benefits. It differs by family size and makeup. For a family of four with two children, for example, the poverty level is $20,444.On the Net: Poverty information from the Census at www.census.gov

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